Black-winged stilts: Record year for UK breeding

The number of black-winged stilts to have fledged the UK in 2017 is more than the total in the last 30 years, experts say.

The bird, common across southern Europe, is “extremely rare” in the UK and experts say the increase in numbers is partly due to climate change and improved habitat management.

Malcolm Ausden, from the RSPB, said: “Increasing numbers of stilts have been arriving in the UK in the last few years… however, until this year, of the 22 nesting attempts in the UK between 1983 and 2016, only three have fledged young.